I've spent a considerable amount of time treading through digital mossy caves and subterranean dungeons — a bit more than I'd like to admit. So it pains me to say that my love for dungeon crawlers is coming to an end.

One issue with the genre is that its games follow a more traditional formula to the point that they become unappealing. Very few titles make the effort to set themselves apart. Very few bring new concepts to the table. A quick glance at the market shows a handful of gems hidden among the selection of cheap and low-effort titles that primarily attempt to replicate other, more successful dungeon crawler games.

And while all that is worth mentioning, personally, I'm just tired of "engaging" tales about heroism and vengeance. Sometimes a guy just wants to kill, loot, and craft — and that's precisely where Dungeon Rushers comes rushing in.

Go up, left, right, or down — anywhere so long as the game allows it.

Goblinz Studio has managed to create a dungeon crawler that sticks it to the man. Dungeon Rushers forgoes your typical tale of world-saving, in favor of a more whimsical adventure of a boy turned treasure-hunter. The premise is simple: find the treasure in each dungeon and defeat enemies along the way. There's no sad tale or story forced upon you — your top priority is to find the darn treasure.

From the start, the game establishes itself as a game unlike other previous dungeon crawlers. It's light-hearted and humorous, and that becomes evident the moment you're thrown into the first dungeon. Travelling through dungeons is made easy by the way movement works in-game. The exact nature of it is similar to the old Dungeons and Dragons play-sets. Dungeons are made up of singular tiles, and players can choose which direction to move in.

While we're no stranger to this premise, Dungeon Rushers introduces a couple new elements to keep us reeled in.

Blessings and curses can really change up the pacing of your exploration.

Stepping forward onto an undiscovered tile means a chance to encounter a group of enemies, traps, or "random event." Random events are scattered throughout a dungeon and can be categorized into altars, chests, or surprises.

These random events can dictate your success in a dungeon. Certain buffs can help you trample over any remaining parties of enemies, while traps and curses can make you more wary of where you're going.

In seven hours, I don't think Elian has ever touched his daggers.

Each party member has three unique abilities at their disposal. Let's take Elian, for example.

Elian can attack with his dagger, shoot an arrow, or poison his enemies. Having three abilities is not bad, but it becomes problematic as we tend to funnel all of our resources into one single ability, forgetting the existence of the other two.

In battle, I made Elian the sharpshooter he was always born to be. His role in combat was to shoot the shamans or "squishies" found in the back-line. That's all he ever did. Thorgrim was in no better position, using the same skill over and over again, pounding away at goblins in hopes of paralyzing them. Pod was the only member to have some sort of leeway in the matter. He either buffed the armor of the rest of the party, or silenced all enemies on the field -- but even then, the skill variety was negligible.

And this remains true no matter how many party members you introduce. Over time we begin to develop our own formula for success. Fights became stale as we continuously follow the same pattern over and over again. If the development team does not give existing abilities more benefits, or put us into situations that require a new approach, we'll always end up utilizing only one or two abilities.

Advertised as a way to increase replayability and expand the game beyond a mere dungeon crawler, is the option to create your very own dungeon. The process is easy and intuitive; You click to place dungeon tiles, and insert random events or monsters wherever you please. Customizing parties of monsters is just as easy, and you're free to mix and match whatever monsters you'd like.

But more importantly, this is where Goblinz Studio successfully addresses the issue of only one or two useful abilities.

Player-created dungeons are a big part of the game, and having the ability to mix and match different monsters is a great solution to the one ability problem. Instead of the more traditional groups of monsters you'll experience in the campaign, players can create odd combinations of enemies that will require players to really think about their next move.

Though Dungeon Rushers does not sport a decent story, sense of progression, or intricate crafting system that we've become so accustomed to seeing, it's not advertised as including either of those. What it does include, however, it does right.

The quirkiness is not too much. There's a huge selection of members to choose from. The art-style is cute and charming, and each character has their own appeal. Thorgrim is your grumbling old dwarf who grows increasingly tired of your antics, that vampire chick is obviously high maintenance, and you can't have a proper dungeon travelling party without a musical bard at your side. The game also gives you a chance to create your own dungeons. In any game with any amount of drawbacks, a space for player-created content is always a plus.

Most importantly is the fact that the game is still in the very early stages of development. It's, in my opinion, one of the more well-developed games to hit Early Access, and it has room to grow considerably.

How simple the game is designed means developers can freely add content as the game goes on. While it does little to inspire and offer a completely memorable experience, the game definitely shows promise. That's a huge win as far as I'm concerned.